1. Milestones for speech and language
1.1. Birth to 3 months
1.1.1. Reacts to loud sounds
1.1.2. Calms down or smiles when spoken to
1.1.3. Recognizes your voice and calms down if crying
1.1.4. When feeding, starts or stops sucking in response to sound
1.1.5. Coos and makes pleasure sounds
1.1.6. Has a special way of crying for different needs
1.1.7. Smiles when he or she sees you
1.2. 4 to 6 Months
1.2.1. Follows sounds with his or her eyes
1.2.2. Responds to changes in the tone of your voice
1.2.3. Notices toys that make sounds
1.2.4. Pays attention to music
1.2.5. Babbles in a speech-like way and uses many different sounds, including sounds that begin with p, b, and m
1.2.6. Babbles when excited or unhappy
1.2.7. Makes gurgling sounds when alone or playing
1.3. 7 Months to 1 Year
1.3.1. Enjoys playing peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake
1.3.2. Turns and looks in the direction of sounds
1.3.3. Listens when spoken to
1.3.4. Understands words for common items such as “cup,” “shoe,” or “juice”
1.3.5. Responds to requests (“Come here”)
1.3.6. Babbles using long and short groups of sounds (“tata, upup, bibibi”)
1.3.7. Babbles to get and keep attention
1.3.8. Communicates using gestures such as waving or holding up arms
1.3.9. Imitates different speech sounds
1.3.10. Has one or two words (“Hi,” “dog,” “Dada,” or “Mama”) by first birthday
2. Communication development K-5th grade
2.1. By the end of kindergarten, your child should be able to do the following tasks in each area. There are standards for each grade, this is simply an example.
2.1.1. Listening
2.1.1.1. Follow 1–2 simple directions in a row.
2.1.1.2. Listen to and understand stories.
2.1.1.3. Follow a simple conversation
2.1.2. Speaking
2.1.2.1. Speak clearly enough so that most people understand what he says.
2.1.2.2. Answer simple yes/no questions.
2.1.2.3. Answer questions like, "What did you have for lunch today?"
2.1.2.4. Retell a story or talk about something he did.
2.1.2.5. Take turns talking and keep a conversation going.
2.1.2.6. Show interest in and start conversations.
2.1.3. Reading
2.1.3.1. Know how a book works. For example, we read from left to right and top to bottom in English.
2.1.3.2. Understand that sounds make up words.
2.1.3.3. Pick out words that rhyme, like cat and hat.
2.1.3.4. Tell you the first sound in words, like mmmm for milk.
2.1.3.5. Says the sounds for some letters, like buh for B.
2.1.3.6. Identify upper- and lowercase letters.
2.1.3.7. Recognize some words by sight.
2.1.3.8. "Read" a few picture books from memory.
2.1.3.9. Pretend to read by talking about pictures in a book.
2.1.4. Writing
2.1.4.1. Print her first name.
2.1.4.2. Draw a picture that tells a story. Write about the picture. Your child may write a letter or word to stand for a whole sentence or idea.
2.1.4.3. Write upper- and lowercase letters. They may not be clear or neat.
2.1.4.4. Write or type letters in no set order, like Mu zEos lx.
3. Advantages of being bilingual
3.1. Most children can learn more than one language. The number of people in the United States who are bilingual keeps growing. Being bilingual has advantages, including being better at:
3.1.1. Learning new words
3.1.2. Learning reading skills
3.1.3. Being able to use information in new ways
3.1.4. Putting words into categories, like "food" or "toys"
3.1.5. Coming up with solutions to problems
3.1.6. Listening to others
3.1.7. Connecting with others
4. Speech disorders
4.1. We can have trouble with speech, language, or both.
4.1.1. Having problems sharing our thoughts, ideas, and feelings is an expressive language disorder.
4.1.2. Having trouble understanding what others say is a receptive language disorder.
4.1.3. When we have trouble saying sounds, stutter when we speak, or have voice problems, we have a speech disorder.
5. What we should say at different times. For example, we might be polite and say, “Would you mind moving your foot?” But, if the person does not move, we may say, “Get off my foot!”.
6. What is speech?
6.1. How we say sounds and words
6.2. Includes Articulation, Voice and Fluency
6.2.1. Articulation is how we make speech sounds with our mouth, lips, and tongue
6.2.2. Voice is how we use our vocal folds and breath to make sounds. Our voice can be loud or soft or high- or low-pitched. We can hurt our voice by talking too much, yelling, or coughing a lot.
6.2.3. Fluency is the rhythm of our speech. We sometimes repeat sounds or pause while talking. People who do this a lot may stutter.
6.3. It is not the same thing as language
7. What is language?
7.1. Language includes:
7.1.1. What words mean. Some words have more than one meaning.
7.1.2. How to make new words.For example, we can say “friend,” “friendly,” or “unfriendly” and mean something different.
7.1.3. How to put words together. For example, in English we say, “Peg walked to the new store” instead of “Peg walk store new.”.
7.2. Language refers to the words we use and how we use them to share ideas and get what we want.
8. Literacy
8.1. Literacy is your ability to read and write. These skills are important for school, at work, and at home.
8.1.1. You start to learn language as a baby. You learn how to say sounds and put them together to make words. You learn to use words to tell people what you think and how you feel. These early speech and language skills help you learn to read and write.
9. Pragmatics
9.1. There are rules for how we use language in different situations and with different people. Adults and children can have trouble with these social communication rules.
9.1.1. Problems With Social Communication:
9.1.1.1. Say the wrong thing or act the wrong way when talking. He may laugh at the wrong time or start talking about something else.
9.1.1.2. Tell stories that do not make sense.
9.1.1.3. Use language in limited ways. She may not say hello, goodbye, or thank you. She may yell instead of asking for what she wants.
9.2. Social communication includes three major skills:
9.2.1. Using language
9.2.1.1. Greeting. Saying "hello" or "goodbye."
9.2.1.2. Informing. "I'm going to get a cookie."
9.2.1.3. Demanding. "Give me a cookie right now."
9.2.1.4. Promising. "I'm going to get you a cookie."
9.2.1.5. Requesting. "I want a cookie, please."
9.2.2. Changing language for the listener or situation
9.2.2.1. Talking differently to a baby than to an adult.
9.2.2.2. Talking differently in a classroom than on a playground.
9.2.2.3. Giving more information to someone who does not know the topic. Knowing to skip some details when someone already knows the topic.
9.2.3. Following rules for conversations and storytelling
9.2.3.1. Taking turns when you talk.
9.2.3.2. Letting others know the topic when you start talking.
9.2.3.3. Staying on topic.
9.2.3.4. Trying another way of saying what you mean when someone did not understand you.
9.2.3.5. Using gestures and body language, like pointing or shrugging.
9.2.3.6. Knowing how close to stand to someone when talking.
9.2.3.7. Using facial expressions and eye contact.